The literal translation does not work at all, LEO proposes "den Hahn zudrehen", but this only works in some contexts.
–
PhiraDec 11 '11 at 14:34

@Phira means specifically stopping the money supply (Geld-Hahn) for a project. Would imho fit fine (put it as answer), if you stop the project that way and because of that reason.
–
HauserDec 11 '11 at 16:18

I removed my answer because of critisism regarding quoting other answers and comments in the hope that we will see more good answers here. Only then the "best" answer may evolve by voting.
–
Takkat♦Dec 11 '11 at 18:11

4 Answers
4

would be appropriate german idiom. I think you should adapt this on in English, as "pull the plug" you would also say when having a bluescreen/freeze on an electrical device, while "pulling the plug on a project" probably means more that there are constructional flaws, planning errors... shit happened. If you simply mean "canceling the project" (for whatever reason), imho a metaphor is not really necessary/appropriate.

The literal translation is IMO not very common, and most of the google hits refer to cases, where electricity/data is the topic and the rhetorical figure is somehow related to the topic. Even in these cases I find this expression a little bit awkward.
–
0x6d64Dec 11 '11 at 17:00

The literal translation seems to me to be an americanism.
–
Jürgen A. ErhardDec 30 '11 at 20:43